WHEN staff sergeant Wayne Ingram first set eyes upon little Stefan Savic on a tour of duty in Bosnia he couldn't help but notice the boy's striking appearance.

The youngster, then aged four, had severe facial deformities with a large lump between his eyes, no proper nose and a hole in his head.

Mr Ingram, who was serving with the 9th/12th Royal Lancers at the time, launched a campaign to take Stefan from his home of Laktasi for surgery at Great Ormond Street Hospital.

That was in April 2003. Today - nearly four years and £85,000 later - little Stefan has undergone three operations and several check-ups and consultations to correct his features and potentially save his life.

His mother Slavenka snapped these shots of him running around like any other little seven-year-old boy when relatives from Sarajevo visited the family home in Laktasi to see him for the first time since his operation.

Mr Ingram, 37, who has left the army and is now an ambulance service technician, has stayed in contact with Stefan and his family.

But he said that the family wanted people in Dorset to see the pictures showing how happy Stefan was and to reiterate their thanks for making the operations possible.

Mr Ingram said: "The pictures show Stefan with his sister and cousins. They wanted people to see it to let them know how he is getting on. The family can't thank the people of Weymouth, Portland and Dorchester enough."

Stefan was born with a facial cleft - an extremely rare craniofacial condition which results in the failure of the normal development of the face.

A block of bone in the centre of his face meant that his eyes were too far apart, affecting his sight, and his nose was split by five centimetres.

Mr Ingram led the appeal to help him with support from former Weyline Taxis boss Calvin Stone and Kim Llewllyn from Weymouth Asda.

And the people of Dorset took Stefan to their hearts. They raised the lion's share of the final total of £85,000 which went towards three operations and four visits to the UK by Stefan and his family for consultations and other expenses.

Wellwishers from the army, Bosnia and elsewhere also weighed in with donations and sponsored events to help propel the appeal towards its target.

Surgeon David Dunaway performed the operations at Great Ormond Street Hospital.

The first procedure was to remove Stefan's teeth. The second was a mammoth 12-hour operation to reform his face and the third was to help correct his nose.

The surgery removed the lump between Stefan's eyes, moved his eyes closer together, and reconstructed his nose and cheekbones. It not only radically improved his appearance but also improved his sight.

Now surgeons have given Stefan the all-clear until he is 13. Then, he may undergo more surgery to reshape his face.

Mr Ingram said: "Stefan was over early last year for his last check-up. It all proved okay and Great Ormond Street are over the moon with him.

"Stefan is doing really well, is in no pain at all and can breathe through his nose."

Now Mr Ingram and Mr Stone intend to visit Stefan and his family in Bosnia later this year.

But it is likely to be a very different Stefan to the little boy that Mr Ingram first saw four years ago.

"I feel really pleased about it all," he said. "It is not often that you can have the chance to make an impact on someone else's life but we would not have been able to do it without the people of Weymouth, Portland and Dorchester.

"They put so much time and effort into helping Stefan."